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TOBOGGAN.

No. 380,875. Patented Apr. 10,' 1888.`

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TOBOGGAN.

8. z w UNE@ mi@ AML e d t HHB vOO Mq/WW N. PETERS, Phule-Lnhngrapher, wnshngwn. D4 C UNiTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

CHARLES HARRIS EMERSON AND WILLIS HENRY WETMORE, OF BURLINGTON, VERMONT; SAID VETMORE ASSIGNOR TO SAID EMERSON.

TOBOGGAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,875, dated April 10,11888.

Application filed August ll, 1887. Serial No. 247,212.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES HARRIS EM- ERsoN and WILLIS HENRY WETMOEE, both of Burlington, county of Ohittenden,and State of Vermont, have invented new and useful Improvements in Toboggans and we do hereby declare that the following Specification, taken in connection with the drawings furnished and forming a part of the same, is a clear, true, and complete description of the several features of our invention.

In that class of coasting toboggans constructed of long thin fiexible strips of wood the best methods of fastening the same securely to the cross-bars heretofore in use are shown and described in Patent No. 358,601, dated March 1, 1887, issued to Charles H. Emerson, then of Yonkers, New York, now of Burlington,Vermont, and one of the applicants herein named, and are improved, as shown in subsequent applications by the same inventor, filed, respectively, on January 17 and April 28, 1887. By the former method (covered by Pat ent No. 358,601) screws or rivets are required to be used, extending vertically into the thin slats forming the bottom of the coaster, while in all methods heretofore in use the hand-railfastener bolts pass entirely through the two outside slats, requiring large countersunk holes to receive the Vbolt heads; but in a coaster of this class a perfectly smooth and entirely unbroken bearing-surface admitting of a high polish is very desirable 5 and, further, in coasters of this class, which are very long and vertically slender, a very high degree of speed is attained, and various steering attachments have been devised5'but, so far as we are informed, they are invariably to be operated by hand or foot power. In all these it has proved that they are not quick enough of application in practice to effect the purpose required, principally because the person using such an apparatus must first see the actual veering of the coaster, and then, using hisjndgment, apply the steerer; but by reason of the excessive swiftness of the coaster this operation is invariably too slow to do much good.

The object of our invent-ion is to provide a more perfect operation of the clips or fasteners described and illustrated in the Patent No. 358,601, before mentioned, and in the applications aforesaid by Charles H. Emerson, and to do away entirely with the use of screws or (No model.)

rivets, or, in fact, any form of fasteningwhatever that must pass through or vertically into any part of any slat forming or a part of the running-surface of the toboggan. We accomplish this principally by means of horizontal pins passing through portions of said clips or fasteners and into the coincident edges of the slats.

A further object is to provide an automatic or self-steering attachment for toboggans or coasters which shall be instantaneous in its action,with little friction, and which shall preclude all possibility of false or useless attempts at steering on the part of the person using the coaster.

After describing the drawings illustrating in detail our improved toboggan, the features deemed novel will be specified in the claims annexed hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a orosssection view at the rear cross-bar, embodying all the principal features 'of our invention. Fig. 2 illustrates the old clip-fast ener covered by said Patent No. 858,601 applied to apair of slat-s with common screws. Fig. 8 in three views illustrates the improved clip with a lip turned down and punched to hold the horizontal pin. Fig. 4 illustrates the new improved clip applied to a pair of slats. Fig. 5 in three views illustrates a modified form of the clip provided with flanges to enter grooves in the under side of cross-bar,and an embossment with slot for a nut or bolt head, and intended for use upon the two outside slats and to preclude the necessity of putting the bolt through the slat. Fig. 6 illustrates a double-threaded nut, by means of which the hand-rail-holder bolt is secured to the slat as another means of avoiding boring through the slat. Fig. 7 (three views) shows still another forni of fastener for intermediate slats, using the separate horizontal pins in ltheir edges, but particularly when it is desirable to use a solid cross bar. Fig. 8 illustrates another modified form of fastener with horizontal ends for pins and the twisted fold of the wire for a hook to engage a stud driven transversely through the sides of a slotted cross-bar. Fig. 9 shows still a different form of the clip or IOO fastener with ends or prongs for pins, but

stamped out of sheet metal in one piece, and to be twisted half around after passing through a slot in the cross-bar to lock slat :and crossbar together. Fig. 10 illustrates another form of sheet-metal fastener stamped out at one operation in one'piece, with fiat iianges instead of pins to enter the edges of slats. Fig. 1l in two views illustrates the automatic steering attachment in its preferred form. Fig. 12 shows a modified form of the attachment with rolling blades or edges. Fig. 13 illustrates a compact form of attachment with solid runner. Fig. 14 shows the blades of the attachment disconnected and applied separately.

Vhen, with the use of the improved clips and horizontal pins, a toboggan is constructed as herein described and illustrated-viz., so that no Slat-fastener shall pass through or vertically into any part of any slat forming the bottom of the toboggan-it will be readily seen that another important object besides an uninarred running-surface is attained, which is that no amount of swelling and shrinking of the slats, caused by the alternate wetting of them by snowwater and drying out when not in use, will in any manner impair the grip of the improved clips upon the parts they bind together; nor will they allow the slats to warp each other out of shape in swelling together, as often occurs when screws or rivets are used, and particularly when they are rigidly held against yany lateral movement by the handrail-holder bolts passing through the outside slats. The usual method of avoiding this warping from swelling when wet isvto leave wide cracks between the slats; but this' is highly objectionable by leaving free access to snow and bits of ice that stick and retard the speed and wet the under side of the cushion. By the use of our improved clips the slats may be placed tightly together, and when they swell from wetting they expand laterally and remain in the same plane.

The improved clips may be made in agreat variety of forms in sets or pairs, or singly, without in any manner affecting our invention. The clips or binders shown in Figs. 8, 4, and 7 are in what we consider their best forms for use on the inner or intermediate slats. Those shown in Figs. 3 and 4, particularly, are formed of sheet metal of suitable thickness having a Hat back, a, and lugs a to embrace the cross-bar B, and with a lip, d, turned down and punched for the pin e to pass through it and into the adjoining slats; but for use ou the two outside slats a somewhat different form of clip or fastener is desirable in order to secure the slat and the hand-railholder bolt together without the necessity of putting this bolt through the slat, as heretofore, and at the same time to grip both edges of the same Slat. XVe accomplish this by the form of clip illustrated in Fig. 5, made of sheet metal,with lips d d at each end, through which the pins e e enter the slat, as shown in Fig. 1. The longitudinal fianges F F, Fig. 5, are formed by turning up the edges of the clip to an acute angle, and serve to stiften the clip and to fasten it to the cross-bar by entering grooves made to receive them in the under side of the crossit will slide over the nut G. Thus with the tWo forms of clips shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5 all the slats are firmly bound to the crossbar and a limited lateral movement provided for, as well as the securing of the rail-holder at the same time, and no fastening permitted to enter vertically any slat. Vith these fasteniugs we prefer the cross-bar B in two pieces slightly wedgeshaped, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, because we thus readily obtain `just the degree of tightness required before boring for the railholder bolt; but this is not needed for more than every other alternate crossbar in the series forming the toboggan, and for the others We use solid cross-bars (in one piece) and the form of fastener shown in Fig. 7. This is a simple screw-pin or rivet to enter the cross-bar at proper intervals, and has a lip for the horizontal pins exactly like the other forms of clips. Y In our improved toboggan the hand-rail holder C, Figs. 1, 5, is novel in construction, being formed of a block of wood, through which the half-round wire staple is passed, which embraces the hand-railand is clinched on the underside. A countersunk perforation through the center of the block receives and holds the bolt D. This combination is stronger, lighter, and cheaper than any of those in present use; but the loop -fastener H may also be used without the aid of the bolt D and without in any way affecting our invention. In such case the extremities of the wire loop, instead of be` ing clinched on the under side of the block C, have feet or points turned upon them just long enough to permit their introduction into the holes bored to receive them, and passing through the block and into the cross-bar; or, in fact, vthe holes may pass th rough the crossbar as well and into the slat. We prefer to make the holes deeper than the length of the loop leg or end to be used. The feet arc then more surely forced into the wood at the sides ofthe holes, when the wedges or dowels which We use for this purpose are driven in behind the leg of the loop to tightly till the holes. It will be readily seen that by this means the parts are tightly bound together without the use of bolts or screws, and the purposes ofour invention more perfectly realized.

Another novel feature of our improved toboggan is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 11, 12, 13, and 14, and consists in au automatic or selfsteering attachment which may be readily applied to any toboggan.

In Fig. 11 the self-steerer is attached to the toboggan at the rear end of the center slat, The skatelike edges 7c' 7c of the runner K protrude slightly through slots in the slat, made parallel with the edges of the slat, with the rounded end m pointing forward. The spring a keeps the blade or edges of the steerer gently pressed downward, and the post 7L serves to ICC IlO

keep both the runner K and the spring n in their proper positions. The hole in the center of the back of the runner K is made to fit the pin h loosely, so that the runnermay have both a free upward and oscillating movement, as required. With this construction it will be readily seen that with the toboggan making a straight forward movement the edges of the steerer 7c k would bear evenly upon the ice, and like a skate-runner, which it resembles, present the minimum of frictional resistance; but the instant that any sluing motion is given to the toboggan the sharp edge of the self-steerer scrapes or cuts into the ice and presents its whole breadth against the side movement, and the more forcible this movement is the more firmly the edge 7c ofthe steerer on the side toward which the sluing movement tends cuts into or seizes upon the ice, when the position of the self-steerer would be as shown by the dotted lines, Fig. 11. This acts to instantly cheek the undue sluing and guide the toboggan by an easy curve to its forward movement with the least possible retardation of that movement7 and the self-righting steerer falls back to its normal position as the side pressure decreases. IVe prefer this form ofthe selfsteerer illustrated in Figs. 1 and 11; but a very wide variety of forms may be used without in any manner affecting our invention.

Figs. 12 and 13 show the steerer with two pivots and two springs to regulate the oscillating movement, the runner being cast solid and narrow, the whole, in fact, presenting the minimum of compactness, and this again by a little changing may be made to act as a rotary steerer by simply introducing a solid roller slightly concave at its periphery to furnish the sharp edges k 7s', and without departing from our invention.

Still another form is shown in Fig. 14, and here the steering-edges are widely separated, being in fact disconnected from each other and attached independently on the two outer sides of the toboggan, respectively.

We are aware that vehicles for use upon ice have been made with propeller-wheels in various designs and constructions; but our oscillating and rotating steererblade is not in any sense a propeller-wheel. In fact, on account of its peculiar construction and application to the vehicle, as herein described, it cannot be used as such, nor can wheels of propulsion or conveyance properly as such perform the -functions of our steering device.

, by hand or foot power' to have any effect in determining the desired course of the vehicle. We therefore disclaim in our construction of an oscillating and rotating steering device the functions of wheels of conveyance or propulsion, our invention in this respect being essentially a selfacting guide or automatic steerer for a vehicle propelled by gravity.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure byl Letters Patent- 1. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination, as herein described, of the slats and the cross-bars with the fasteners, which secure the slats, without the aid of rivets or screws or other fastenings passing vertically into the slats, by means of pins passing through projee-ting lips of the fasteners and horizontally into the edges of the said slats.

2. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination of the slat and the cross-bar and the handrail-holder bolt with the improved form of clip, which grasps both edges of the same slat, substantially as described, whereby the parts named are securely united without putting the said bolt through the slat, as heretofore.

3. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination of the slat and the cross-bar and the bolt D with the double-threaded nut g, substantially as described.

4. In a toboggan or coaster, `the combination ofthe block C, interposed to elevate the hand-rail I above the cross-bar B, with the bolt D and the fastener H, substantially as described.

5. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination of the hand-rail fastener H, provided with feet to be wedged into the sides of the holes bored to receive them, with the block C and cross-bar B.

6. Ina toboggan or coaster, the combination of the fastening-clips and the slats with the cross-bars made in two wedge-shaped pieces, by which means more or less fiexibility is secured, as required, while the whole are quickly and tightly united, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

7. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination of the bottom slat and the cross-bar with the eyebolt F F2 and the pin e, substantially as and for the purposes described herein.

8. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination, as herein described and illustrated, of a steering device having one or more revolving or oscillating runnerblades shaped and constructed so as to automatically resist and prevent a side or sluing movement.

9. The combination, in a toboggan or coaster, of a self-acting steering device formed of one or more runners attached rigidly to the bottom ofthe coaster and depending upon the concave shape or sharp edges alone to resist a sluing movement.

10. In a toboggan or coaster, the combination ofan automatic steering device provided with skate-action runners, and the controllingsprings n n n2, and the securing or covering clip a3, substantially as herein described and illustrated.

CHARLES HARRIS EMERSON. VILLIS HENRY 'WETMORE Witnesses:

GEO. W. CAMPBELL, H. It. LEMON.

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